Under the state's Personal Information Protection Act councils are not exempt from the regulations governing the collection of personal information.

In a 2005 circular sent to councils, personal information was defined as ``any recorded format, including photographs and sound and video recordings, about an individual that readily identifies that individual''.

Mr Dobrzynski said he believed CCTV was well supported by the community and a ``vital tool of police''.

``Here in Launceston, the council owns and maintains the CCTV network, but images from that network can only be monitored or stored by police,'' Mr Dobrzynski said.